


A New Set of Code

by Yami_Kada7



Series: Link Down [2]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Androids, Day 2, Denial, Grief/Mourning, Looking for Answers, VRAINS Week 2019, VRLink14
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 14:12:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19831882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yami_Kada7/pseuds/Yami_Kada7
Summary: Haru didn’t know how or why Bohman bothered to save him, or where his brother was, but maybe a certain group of duelists and a stolen SOLtiS body can help him figure it out.





	A New Set of Code

**Author's Note:**

> I liked that sassy and bitter little AI, alright?  
> Plus Ai got to make a backup of himself and steal a body technically that shouldn't be impossible for any of the other AIs in the show.

**System restart.**

**System discrepancies detected. Beginning analysis.**

**Analysis complete. Program upgrades integrated during shutdown. Determining purpose of upgrades.**

Eyes blinked open, and limbs stretched as the program built into them was assessed. 

**Upgrades include: New protocols, increased decision-making software, improved situational and behavioral analysis software, designation changes, randomness generator, and 1 comment.**

The figure slowly stood up, gingerly placing his feet down on the web of data that made up the part of the network he was in. The rainbow grid stretched through the darkness, sagging under the weight of his program but still holding strong. This was problematic, what had happened? The last thing he remembered…

Haru jolted, program going fully alert and he turned around, assessing the area within reach of his scanners. No other AIs, nor any avatars, were in the area. It seemed safe enough for now.

But where was he? He was supposed to be in Mirror Link Vrains, not some podunk corner of the grid. He had to find Bohman.

**Babysitter Mode activated. Scanning network.**

Haru swept his gaze around, probing everywhere he could.

**Program not found.**

What.

**Scanning network.**

**Program not found.**

No.

**Scanning network. Increased range applied.**

It couldn’t be.

**Program not found.**

He was just too far away. There was no other explanation. Babysitter mode was specifically built so that Bohman couldn’t hide from him.

He just had to go looking.

He concentrated on summoning his D-Board, but nothing happened. Of course there wouldn’t be enough data material for it. He’d just have to walk to another part of the network and scan again.

Haru lifted one foot out of the web under him and settled it onto the green thread in front, testing his weight. It held. He set his other foot on the connection and started forward, holding his arms out to keep his balance. This would take a while.

* * *

Several fruitless scans later, Haru finally started to see some familiar coding. That was good, familiar meant closer to Link Vrains and closer to Bohman, just a little while longer and his scan would turn up results.

The network strength gradually increased the closer he got, until eventually he was able to summon his board. He wasted no time, immediately shooting for the overlapped programs that Bohman intended to use as a base. 

Only, there weren’t two programs. Just one. Haru stopped just on the edge of it, staring at the code. Mirror Link Vrains’ code was supposed to be right next to it, but there was a gap instead, with light scraps of data clinging to it. Mirror Link Vrains’ program had collapsed.

**Emergency processor stop.**

**Rebooting processors.**

**Reloading data.**

**Analyzing.**

**Analysis complete. Location of program Bohman unavailable. Network scan recommended.**

He would find him.

* * *

Haru went through the upgrades to his system while he walked away from Link Vrains. He scrolled through the data with one hand as the other kept his balance, scanners working furiously in the back of his mind. The new protocols seemed rather simple. Self-preservation, mostly, and a “benefits for humanity” and a “benefits for the group” that seemed pretty strange, but weren’t interfering with his systems so he left them alone.

The new software, though… that was interesting. Decision-making and analysis were already points that he was strong in, so why would Lightning expand them?

Looking closer though, it didn’t seem like Lightning’s handiwork. It was done with more care, more thought, and something his new systems were analyzing as empathy…

He stopped walking, wavering on the network thread for a moment before righting himself. The software looked like something Bohman would do. 

He didn’t know how to feel about that. Sure they were sibling programs, but having the other go through his programming like that…

Oh well. He was Bohman’s servant anyway. If Bohman thought these changes were important enough to make, then he must have been right. He scrolled past those, searching for the designation changes mentioned in the analysis. 

Not much had changed. Lightning and Windy were still his masters, Bit and Boot were his underlings, but Bohman-

He didn’t stop walking this time, but he couldn’t tear his gaze from the screen either. Brother hovered in the space where master used to be, and Haru didn’t let himself process that because he wasn’t sure what that would mean, now. When he was looking for them alone. Once he found them, then he would go through all of that and figure out what it meant.

The randomness generator was a good distraction. Judgement Dice, of course Bohman would name the program something grand like that. He didn’t have much of a use for it, but it was entertaining to try to calculate the results of the roll. 

He rolled the little die between his fingers as he searched for the comment. That was the annoying thing about comments, they could be anywhere in his program and he wouldn’t know where or what they were until he found them. And this one seemed to be hiding, because he had gone over all the main parts of his program and not found anything. 

He walked and scrolled for 20 minutes before he finally spotted it. It was tacked on to the end of his facial recognition program, a single red line of text that stuck out like a sore thumb.

//find a way

That was it. That was what Bohman wanted to tell him? A way to what? Bohman knew that Haru couldn’t complete the mission on his own, he wasn’t built for it, nor did he have access to the programs that Bohman used to help him out. And he couldn’t strike back against Playmaker and the others, he would be destroyed the instant he tried.

It must mean to find them. It was one of the only things that Haru knew he excelled at, his search program was second only to the Tower of Hanoi.

His search program that still couldn’t find Bohman. 

Haru closed the window of his code, focusing on the grid that vanished into light ahead of him. He’d just have to ask Bohman what he meant.

* * *

Haru had gone everywhere he could think of. Every corner of the network, every glimmer of code that looked slightly promising, he had followed it. But nothing. Not a single trace of Lightning, or Windy, or Bohman.

Well, not a trace of their actual programs. He found a recording, that those stupid reporters that came to Mirror Link Vrains must have made of their footage. But there was no way he would believe that, who knows who might have tampered with it before he got there? With Link Vrains’ capabilities, something like that wouldn’t be out of the question.

Luckily, SOL had a piece of tech that might help him get some solid answers, and he knew just where to look to find them.

* * *

**Server link engaged.**

**Analyzing code.**

**New input available. Processing.**

Haru blinked open motorized eyes, taking in his surroundings.

**New variables available. Integrating into system.**

The room he was in was dim, he could hardly see anything.

**Light insufficient. Engaging night vision mode.**

Haru blinked, trying to figure out how to focus the lenses. It was strange, his avatar never had to do that. A few more seconds, and he thought that he had enough of a handle on it for the moment. When he looked around, though, he almost wished that he hadn’t. 

The whole room was full of robots, all fully assembled, just standing in rows like petrified soldiers. The lack of facial features made them an even stranger sight to see.

Haru decided not to waste time, SOL could realize that something had happened at any moment, and he had places to be. He commanded the leg to move, and it jerked up and out, sticking out straight in front of him. That wasn’t what he wanted, not even close. 

He tried to lower it slowly, and that seemed to be working fine, but halfway through the motion the whole android started to tip over. He threw out the arms -it worked well enough on the net it should work here as well- and hit the robots on either side of him. Not what he had in mind, but at least this form had good grip strength. 

After a few more minutes of clattering around and trying not to make too much noise, Haru was able to walk forwards, backwards, turn, crouch low and still move around, and rotate his arms all the way around. Getting the fingers to move the way he wanted would take a little more work, but he could work on that later. Depending on the answers he got.

He walked to the door and glanced back inside, at the rows of dead metal. His program registered pity as he closed the door behind him, locking the husks away. 

* * *

He was in SOL Tech’s central offices, according to something called the Global Positioning System, which seemed reliable enough. The system had also been how he had found out that the android was broadcasting his location, which, no. He had hidden in a small side hallway for the time it took to dismantle that program and erase all traces that he had ever left the storage facility. Even if SOL realized that the robot itself was gone, all of their computers would still be telling them that it was in that room. He smiled at the thought of the engineers running around in circles looking for it.

He followed the emergency evacuation sign, which had all of the staircases clearly labeled for the benefit of rogue AIs, to the nearest staircase and started up. The robot’s limbs didn’t like the new form of movement at first, but trial and error and a metal grip on the handrail kept him upright and moving forward. 

Just when he thought that he would go the whole way out without encountering anyone, his audio receptors picked up a door three floors above him opening. He stilled as two voices filled the stairwell, loud to his changed senses. 

“Can’t believe that we got dumped down to the basement. It’s not like this research is all that secret, anyways.” The first voice registered as annoyed.

“Aren’t they going public in a week?” The second voice was slower, and they kept pausing for audible breaths.

“Dunno, but that’s when the boat party is, and they haven’t hired any entertainment, so they’re probably planning on it.” The voices had gone down a flight already, and Haru swivelled his head around for a solution to his predicament.

“Will the SOLtiS be ready though? The hardware is fine, but the AIs…” There was an alcove in the side of the landing in front of him, where he could see various pipes sticking out. 

“That’s why we’re here. In the basement. At one in the morning.” Could he make it? They were getting closer...

“Ah.” Haru took the chance, stepping up as many steps at once as he could and almost throwing himself at the nook, hunkering down behind the wide pipes. One set of footsteps paused above him. “Did you hear that?”

“The sound of you yawning? Yes, I heard it.” 

“No, the footsteps. There were footsteps below us.” Haru curled his hands into fists at his sides.

“You’re just hearing things. Get a cup of coffee once we get to the lab.”

“No, really, there were some lights down there too.” _Oh no._ One glance down and Haru was working on the program for the LED lights implanted in a ring at each wrist, as well as the diamond in the throat. He absolutely could not be caught for such an obvious reason. 

“Forget the coffee, you can’t code if you’re seeing things, so you’re taking a nap as soon as we get back. The couch is comfy, trust me.” The lights were off, now he just had to stay still.

“...Maybe you’re right. I’ll take a power nap, then chug a pot of coffee, then get back at it.”

The two figures stepped into view in time for one to clap the other on the back. “That’s the spirit. Just a few more weeks and we can get back to our normal schedule.”

A door opened below. Haru heard one last thing before it shut. “We _never_ have a normal schedule.”

* * *

The rest of the staircase was quiet, and after three more flights up Haru stepped out of the door to the first floor. The hallway was empty, but he was picking up sounds from behind some of the doors. He chose a direction at random and started down the open hallway. 

The building was all the same. All the hallways he had seen had the exact same dimensions, style of lights, shade of paint, it was confusing. The employees must find it to be particularly annoying.

He turned himself around a corner, then stepped back around it, against the wall. A little ways beyond was what looked like the entrance, with a large, open space and several humans between himself and the door. Two of them were behind a desk, and appeared to be typing, although the computers were out of sight. Three were in front of a pair of elevators, and two were in chairs surveying the room like they owned the building. The last person was dressed in a dark blue shirt, standing at attention in front of another hallway.

Haru pulled his head back out of sight, going over his options. He could make a break for the doors, but that would be noticed immediately and he was 87% certain that the two behind the desks would have some way to lock the doors. Waiting for a crowd that he could disappear into wasn’t viable either, someone his size would stand out like a sore thumb in a business setting. 

He was just turning around to find another exit when a commotion started up behind him.

“Queen-sama! Any word on the new inventions rumored to be displayed during the private party next week?”

“Are there going to be any upgrades to Link Vrains’ security after this last breach?”

“Why does Playmaker still have such a high bounty on his head after saving your company twice?”

The three elevator people were flocked around a figure in the middle of the lobby, A blue-haired woman who had her back to the hallway Haru was hiding in. She seemed irritated by the questions, and kept trying to step around the group to no avail. 

She made a gesture with one hand, and the security guard came forward to intervene, placing his back to the front door. It was perfect.

Haru walked to the door, going for a pace that maximized speed and silence. It must have worked, because he slipped through the door and no one followed him, except for the questioners who were shoved out a few seconds later.

He didn’t bother to look back, not when he had so much in front of him. He was so close to answers. He’d find Bohman and the others in no time.

* * *

It was probably a good thing that so few people were out at this time of night. He doubted that many people would be particularly glad to see him, given what he had been part of. They’d probably call the police, and Haru didn’t even bother to check if AIs residing in stolen android bodies had rights. 

He ducked into an alley, letting a group that appeared to be as unfamiliar with walking as himself amble by, then crept back onto the street. He pulled up a map of the city onto his duel disk, checking the route again. He was almost there.

There being a dilapidated apartment building that had a strange structure to it. According to the building’s online records, the person he was looking for was on the top floor. 

He walked up to the front door, tugging on the handle. It was locked, which was no shock for the time of night. He held up one hand in front of his face, and shrugged. It was worth a try.

He grabbed on to one hand with the other and _pulled_ , tugging the appendage free from the band at the wrist. He unwound some of the cable, until the hand was hanging almost to the ground. Then reeling back, he stared at the ledge of the rooftop as he ran calculations in his head, spinning the grappling hook around and around until the calculations were complete, and launched it up. 

The hand sailed away into the dark and he kept tracking it, flicking the arm toward the door when it cleared the height necessary. The hand hit the surface of the roof, and the weight of the cable pulled it back to the edge where he could latch onto the low wall at the edge of the roof. He reeled in the excess cable until the winch was about to pull him off the ground, and took a second to steady his grip. The next pull had him holding on to the wall with one hand, the second forced feet off the ground and onto the brick, and he kept walking up until he was more or less horizontal, keeping the cable as taut as he could. 

The climb was difficult. Adjusting for the pull of the cable while keeping steady footing was a chore, and gravity was annoying as all heck. He found himself attempting to summon his D-Board automatically during a few close calls, but eventually he was able to reach the roof with his other hand and haul himself over the edge. He took a minute to sit at the edge and wind down from that, stretching out fingers that probably didn’t require the motion. Good grip strength indeed. 

There was one last flight of stairs to his goal, and he hurried up them to the door at the top. The windows were dark, but that wasn’t enough to deter him. The person on the other end deserved to get woken up, for all that he had done. He brought a fist up to the wood and let his hand fall against it, rotating the shoulder to pull back and let the fist fall again and again, as fast as he could. After a minute, light spilled out from under the door and he picked up footsteps on the other side. They stopped right in front of the door, and Haru stared directly into the lens just above him, arm still poised to knock. 

The silence stretched for a few seconds before metal slid out of place and the door was pulled back, revealing Playmaker dressed in what registered as pajamas and house slippers. Haru let the arm fall, waiting for Playmaker to say something, although he seemed more inclined to stare at him while blinking, apparently not yet awake.

“...What are you doing here…?” Playmaker finally got out, still staring at him.

Haru opened his mouth and replied, but only a variety of jumbled static and sound made it out.

That, at least, got Playmaker more alert. His eyes had narrowed now, and his face had taken on the expression that Haru was used to seeing on him. “How are you even here?”

Haru raised one hand to the base of the throat, running through the basics of the speech program with a range of quick and quiet sound. “SOL has its uses, even if they only mean to benefit themselves.”

“Oh.” Playmaker didn’t need him to elaborate on that. “What do you want?”

And that was the whole point, wasn’t it? To find answers. There were so many to ask, so many that he had complied for this encounter, although he hadn’t expected it to be this easy. It was so unexpected, that he took a couple seconds to review and decide what to say, what was the most important thing to find out because the more awake Playmaker got the less likely he would be to answer and he had to _know_ \- 

“Where is he?” -not that, not the one question that he knew he could answer on his own with just a little more time to search, but Playmaker was already opening his mouth.

But not speaking. Instead he closed his mouth and swallowed, his whole frame tensing before smoothing out again. His head shook, just the slightest of movements, and then it tilted, coming down to face him more fully. “I’m sorry.”

**Emergency processor stop.**

**Rebooting processors.**

**Reloading data.**

**Processing.**

**Analysis complete. Program Bohman location inconclusive. Clarification request recommended.**

“For what?” It was impossible. Bohman was the bridge between humanity and AIs, the one who would lead them all to a new world. 

Hands came onto his shoulders and Haru looked up, wondering when he had looked down. “Bohman is gone, Haru. I won the last duel.”

**Emergency processor stop.**

**Rebooting processors.**

**Reloading data.**

**Processing.**

**Analysis complete. Program Bohman deleted.**

**Emergency processor stop.**

**Rebooting processors.**

**Reloading data.**

**Processing-**

“Hey, hey!” Haru could feel the android twitching, limbs moving sporadically in aborted gestures. He wasn’t sure what he had been trying to do. “Hey, you, calm down. Calm down.” Something was pulling him around, and he couldn’t stop it. “Sit down, you’re going to hurt yourself if you keep this up.”

Haru was aware somewhere that he was sitting on the ledge in the doorway leading to the rest of the house, and that Playmaker was shutting the door- _the one who killed Bohman was shutting the door-_ but he couldn’t focus on the android well enough to get it to move how he wanted. 

Then Playmaker was kneeling in front of him, staring at him again, but his expression was different this time. “You won.” worked its way out of his mouth, he couldn’t form any more words.

Playmaker nodded. “I won.” He moved back against the door, sitting in front of him. “But I wish we never had to duel in the first place.”

Haru couldn’t respond to that. He wanted that too.

He went through the motor control program piece by piece, until he was completely still, sitting across from Playmaker.

He didn’t keep track of how long they sat like that. Him trying not to think, the other staring at him. But eventually the silence was broken. 

Playmaker set one hand against the ground, pushing himself up until he was standing over Haru.

“Come on.” he murmured, stretching his hand out towards him. “You need to rest.”

Haru went. He got up, avoiding the hand offered due to the risk of gripping too tightly, and waited until Playmaker had walked past before turning and following down the hallway. There was a door farther down on the right side of the hallway that Playmaker was opening, waving at him to follow before entering the room.

It was small, and blue, and sparse. A table, chair, and cot were all that filled it. Playmaker wasn’t looking at him, instead focused on the bed. “I don’t know how exactly you sleep, but I can get some clean sheets if you would prefer them.”

“Sleep?” Haru echoed. He had never slept, although he had noticed that feature on the android. AIs didn’t sleep, as far as he was aware. The closest thing he had ever experienced was right before he had found himself rebooting in that far-off corner of the network. He didn’t have any data on that time.

“Yes, sleep.” Playmaker turned back to him, and something in his expression must have made him pause. “Or whatever you would prefer to do to regain energy.” 

“Oh.” Haru looked around again. “I don’t need anything for that, I don’t think.”

“Alright, let me know if you change your mind.” And with that, Playmaker walked out of the room, shutting the door, but not locking it.

Haru watched the door for a while, then walked over to the bed, sitting down on the surface. It yielded under his weight with a groan, but held. It was a bit like the network that way.

He stretched across it, using it to support his whole body. If sleep was anything like the void in his memory, then he would welcome it. He closed his eyes, leaning his head against the bare pillow. It couldn’t hurt any more than anything else today to try.

**Entering Sleep Mode.**

**Powering Down.**

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know of any thoughts, comments, or suggestions you might have! I love reading them all!
> 
> Haru's thoughts should get more "Human" as this goes on, as will his way of interacting. Also less time skips.
> 
> I'm being smart this year! This is the only prompt that has the potential to be multi-chaptered! And I really like it so hopefully once the event ends I'll have time to write more...
> 
> In the spirit of last year's Vrainsweek, this chapter is not beta'd!


End file.
